There’s a new face manning the sidelines for Beitar Jerusalem as Sports Director Almog Cohen moved out of the front office and onto the pitch as the former Israel National Team star took over the reins from Barak Itzhaki during the offseason and will now guide the yellow-and-black up close and personal. After last season’s second place finish in a battle that went down to the wire with Hapoel Beer Sheva for the league championship, owner Barak Abramov did what he could to keep the legendary striker as his bench boss, but Itzhaki and Beitar parted ways.

With Itzhaki seemingly out of the picture, Abramov together with Cohen, who helped turn around the fortunes of the club when he came on board as the sports director after a successful spell at Maccabi Netanya, decided that he was the best candidate for the job. With that, the 37-year old former defensive midfielder who starred in Germany began to put his fingerprints on the squad that saw a few additions that arrived over the summer including Tomer Yosefi and Eugene Ansah to bolster the team’s attack.

Just ahead Beitar’s intensive training camp abroad in Pravets, Bulgaria, Cohen spoke about his new role for the first time as he looked back at the season that was, how he feels about taking over as head coach and what there is to look forward to this coming campaign.

“First of all, it feels great. I’ve been in the role for about two weeks now and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a tremendous challenge, but I’m definitely ready for it. I think we’re working very, very hard as a team and ultimately, time will tell where that takes us.”

When a coach that was successful coach leaves, it’s never easy for any club and sometimes when the parting of ways occurs it could leave an open wound, however, Cohen feels that things ended well between Itzhaki and the club.

“Barak was my friend even before he came to Beitar Jerusalem. While he was here, we became even closer, we were like brothers and that’s how it will remain. I spoke with him a few days ago and I wish him nothing but success going forward. I think his door will always be open here. But right now, we have a new challenge ahead of us and that’s where all our focus and attention is. As for the circumstances of his departure, I think that’s a question you should ask Barak. I’m sure he’ll talk about it.”

As sports director Almog Cohen was busy with the club but also had various coaches that have worked under him, the question is, what type of coach he is himself, “Everyone knows the kind of football I want to see. It’s the kind of football I demanded from the coaches who worked with me and I don’t think that will change. What will change is that the responsibility is now entirely on me. From the first day I remember myself as a player, I’ve always believed I have to prove myself over and over again. I only focus on tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to be the best version of ourselves.

“I’ve always compared myself to a judoka wearing a white belt every day when I come to work. That’s how I see it, I come to learn every day, improve every day and become the best I can be. What I’ve achieved up until now doesn’t matter anymore.”

Before Cohen arrived at Beitar Jerusalem, he had called the club ‘the sleeping giant of Israeli football.’ The team had a fantastic season but didn’t win the league, but with the right mix of staff and players that can change despite not having one of the budgets in the competition.

“It’s obvious that our budget is significantly smaller than those of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Beer Sheva. That’s simply the reality. But at the end of the day, everyone who signs for Beitar Jerusalem, every staff member and every player understands that there is one clear objective this season and that’s to win the championship.

“I don’t want to keep discussing it because championships aren’t won with words. They’re won through performances on the pitch, through hard work and through what you do every single day on the training ground. We’ll talk about everything in greater detail as time goes on, but the important thing is that everyone here knows exactly what the goal is.”

Cohen knew that one day he would move down to the sidelines and become a coach but he didn’t know it was going to be so soon at only 37 years of age, “It wasn’t something I planned for the next few years. When I say ‘a few years,’ I mean I thought maybe around the age of 42 or 43, if I found myself in the right situation, I might move to the sidelines. That’s one of the reasons I completed my UEFA Pro License as I wanted to be prepared if the opportunity ever came. I just didn’t think it would happen this quickly.

“Like I said from day one, it’s a huge challenge. But I came into it prepared, just as I prepared for many other challenges throughout my career, including as a sporting director. I have tremendous belief in these players, in the staff and in this club. I think Beitar Jerusalem has made enormous progress over the past few years and I’m convinced it can continue to grow.”

Having been a mainstay in German football first with FC Nurnberg and then with FC Ingolstadt, Cohen played under many excellent coaches but there is one that he perhaps was influenced most by, “I don’t know if I want to be like any one particular coach, because I took something different from each of them. But if I had to name one coach who influenced me the most, it would be Ralph Hasenhüttl, who coached me at Ingolstadt. But honestly, I learned something valuable from every coach I played under.”

Part of the growth of the club is seeing Beitar create it’s own BJR brand and bring their kits in-house. For Cohen, this is just part of the process to take the franchise to the next level, “People at Beitar invested a huge amount of effort into creating this brand and I see it as another important step in the club’s development toward where we want to be. I believe the club is already being run at the highest level in Israeli football and our ambition in everything from the professional side to marketing is to operate at the highest possible standard, to keep improving and to become the very best we can be. This new brand is part of that process.”

While Beitar Jerusalem is still under construction, Cohen has made some moves to replace some players that have departed and did this with the idea of improvement in mind, “Every player we’ve brought in is someone we were certain could improve the team compared to last season. We conducted a very thorough review of last year, identified the areas where we fell short and recruited accordingly. Every player who has joined is someone we believe makes us stronger and brings us closer to our objectives.”